This time last year, Nintendo\u2019s 2026 plans were a bit of a mystery. We knew that games like Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia <\/em>and Mario Tennis Fever<\/em> would round out the Switch 2\u2019s first year, but we still had few clues about what would be 2026\u2019s big game for the platform. Now, we know that Nintendo was hiding a big secret during that time. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time <\/em>would be the Switch 2\u2019s tentpole 2026 game, giving players (and Nintendo\u2019 holiday sales) a blockbuster remake. Nate Bihldorff, Nintendo\u2019s SVP of product development and publishing, knew that would be a very big deal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI often have the best time anticipating which games are going to send the fandom into as big of a fervor as possible, and certainly the first time we heard about Ocarina of Time<\/em>, we expected that to be the case,\u201d Bihldorff told Polygon at the game\u2019s launch event at Nintendo\u2019s flagship New York store.<\/p>\n During our conversation about Ocarina of Time<\/em>, Bihldorff explained how the critically acclaimed Zelda game fits into the Switch 2\u2019s growing software lineup. The Switch 2\u2019s first year of games was especially eclectic, giving players left-field swings like Kirby Air Riders<\/em> and Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream<\/em>. While the lineup was strong, some Nintendo players wondered when the publisher would roll out its biggest guns. But Nintendo was confident about holding on to a system-selling announcement for a little while, because it had plenty of faith in the Switch 2\u2019s initial software lineup.<\/p>\n \u201cWe always have confidence in our developers coming out with great games,\u201d Bihldorff said. \u201cThere\u2019s one constant that has been consistent through my entire career at Nintendo, and that\u2019s that you can pretty much set your watch by the idea that we\u2019re going to be coming out with stuff. And the beauty of having so many different IPs that appeal to different people is that you can have a cycle of different games that come out. It doesn\u2019t matter how excited I am about Donkey Kong Bananza<\/em> at launch; there\u2019s always going to be more games that are coming down the pipeline. This felt no different than that.\u201d<\/p>\n While Ocarina of Time<\/em> was likely to be a slam dunk, it\u2019s a creatively risky project on paper. Players have strong feelings about the original game, which has long been hailed as the greatest video game of all time. According to Bihldorff, the developers were aware of the stakes, but they were more excited than nervous about working on the remake.<\/p>\n \u201cThey knew the challenge that was before them when they decided to take on this project, but you can also read the enthusiasm in all of their comments about how excited they got, once they actually got in the mix, to bring this to a new generation of people,\u201d Bihldorff said. \u201cI think that outweighs any concern about \u2018I hope we don\u2019t screw this up!\u2019 No, they have passion about this. Let\u2019s get this out. The final product really speaks for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of that excitement comes from the hardware the game was built on. In an interview with Polygon earlier in the day, Zelda producer Hidemaro Fujibayashi stressed that the Switch 2 granted developers the opportunity to realize Ocarina of Time<\/em> in a way that mid-\u201990s gaming technology simply wouldn\u2019t allow.<\/p>\n \u201cNow with the new hardware, Nintendo Switch 2, we’re able to leverage all of the capabilities and try to do things that we weren’t able to do with Ocarina of Time<\/em>,\u201d Fujibayashi told Polygon. \u201cSo I think this gave us an opportunity to really explore thoroughly what that kind of gameplay and game design is.”<\/p>\n Ocarina of Time<\/em> would have been an eye-catching move for Nintendo in its own right, but it\u2019s even more interesting in context of the Switch 2\u2019s 2026. It\u2019s the second major remake of the year for the company, following June\u2019s Star Fox<\/em>. (Though not a literal remake, 2025\u2019s Kirby Air Riders<\/em> was also, in many ways, a revisiting of the GameCube\u2019s Kirby Air Ride<\/em>.) Was it a coincidence of timing, or a signal of a strategic shift for Nintendo as it looks to bring back its most beloved games? Bihldorff emphasized that while original games are still as important as ever for Nintendo, remakes are a big part of Nintendo\u2019s software plans right now.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think that new games and remakes both have a place in the Nintendo stable, of equal importance to be honest,\u201d Bihldorff said. \u201cThere are fans of every single IP that we have out there. Of course, having new games in those series is wonderful, and I look forward to them as much as anyone else does, but there\u2019s also a deep satisfaction in revisiting games that were very, very special, like Ocarina of Time<\/em>\u2026 But it\u2019s also important to think about how many people had never played the original, and for them, the remake of Ocarina of Time<\/em> is going to be an absolutely brand-new, 2026 experience, and one that I just cannot wait for them to get their hands on.\u201d<\/p>\n Bihldorff\u2019s comments paint a picture of Nintendo’s strategy in the second year of the Switch 2. The publisher is living in an interesting creative space, where it\u2019s balancing niche games in smaller IP with high-profile remakes that feel like safer bets. That tightrope act seems to be working, especially considering that left-field releases like Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream<\/em> are turning out to be financial winners for Switch 2. If any move \u2014 whether it be reviving a critically panned GameCube game or giving Ocarina of Time<\/em> a radical facelift \u2014 seems surprisingly risky, you can chalk it up to the kind of bravado you\u2019re bound to earn when those risks keep paying off.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/the-legend-of-zelda-ocarina-of-time-goron-and-link.png?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Nintendo EPD\/Nintendo<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ocarina-of-time.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Nintendo EPD\/Nintendo<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n